Diario de Filipinas: Exclusive: Chinaman behind Aguinaldo's big guns

Cavite, Philippines - The rebellion is very much alive in Cavite. As Governor General Camilo de Polavieja prepares his offensive against the native rebels, Emilio Aguinaldo of Kawit has solidified his defense of the ground he has gained in his home province.

Since September last year, Aguinaldo has been busy mobilizing every able-bodied man, woman and child to collect spent cases from rifles and pistols after every skirmish his armed group has had with the Spanish authorities. They have also been instructed to collect unexploded ordnance from the Spanish gunboats and canons.

The rebels, who now consider themselves as revolutionaries fighting for independence from Spain, bring all these materials to an old friar hacienda in Imus, where they would be used again as artillery shells and bullets. In the same hacienda can also be found Aguinaldo’s chief of artillery, a Chinaman by the name of Hou A-p’ao or Jose Ygnacio Paua.

A native of the Fukien province in China, Paua came to the Philippines in July 1872. He worked as an blacksmith’s apprentice to another Chinaman in Tondo. At the outbreak of hostilities last year, Paua joined the revolution in Cavite.

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